NY acts to keep oil from reaching Delaware River

PORT JERVIS, N.Y. (AP) — The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation is taking steps to keep an underground oil slick at a former railroad site from reaching the Delaware River.

The Times Herald-Record of Middletown reports that a DEC official held a public hearing Wednesday in Port Jervis to inform city officials about the state’s plan to build an “interceptor trench” to stop the oil plume from getting to the river near where the borders of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey meet.

The former Erie-Lackawanna Railroad site, now owned by the city, is contaminated with more than 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel and other petroleum products.

Officials have estimated it would take at least 20 years for the oil to reach the river, located about one-quarter mile from the site.